Hands-On Review: Sony a9 & Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens

Sony’s new flagship 24mp Sony a9 offers continuous shooting at up to 20 FPS with NO BLACKOUT with AF/AE tracking up to 60 measurements per sec (4-5 times the speed of Canikon) and Silent Shooting for vibration-free shooting up to 1/32,000 of a second! WHEW!!!

World’s First Full-frame Stacked CMOS sensor

Sony has been using Stacked CMOS Sensors in smartphones and one-inch sensor cameras for the past two years but it’s very difficult to make larger Stacked CMOS sensors. Sony a9 features the World’s First Fullframe Stacked CMOS Sensor with Integral Memory allowing much faster data readout. Because data in not streamed to the edges of the frame – but straight through – the camera is able to calculate Exposure, AF/AE and Capture functions in parallel 20x faster than was previously possible.

Shoot up to 20 Frames per Second

For the first time ever in a fullframe camera, Sony a9 allows you to shoot up to a blazing 20 Frames per Second. (Canon’s flagship 1DX II max is 14 FPS and Nikon’s flagship D5 max is 12 FPS)

Silent & Vibration-Free Shooting

Sony a9 is totally silent and vibration free. Silent Shooting mode is ‘game changer’ according to members of the White House pool who are under fire to reduce camera noise by the TV networks. While Silent Shooting is already found on Sony a7S, a7RII, a7SII, a6300 & a6500 this marks the first time it’s appeared on a true flagship camera.

Silent Shooting Mode is ideal for shooting in situations like movie sets, courtrooms or funerals where shutter noise is either prohibited or frowned upon. Silent Shooting allows sports photographers to shoot in 100% Silence at times an audible shutter would not be allowed – such as the back swing of a golf putt or tennis serve.

Sony a9’s stacked CMOS sensor allows 20X faster readout of the sensor than previous models. This greatly improves Silent Shooting Mode from previous Sony cameras making shutter speeds up to 1/32,000th of a second possible and all-but eliminating banding even under pulse lighting and jello-cam effects.

While Silent Shooting Mode’s electronic shutter is 100% silent, there are many times – such as portrait photography – when you might want a slight audible indication of shutter release. There’s a menu option that adds an audible shutter release sound and/or audio signals for other camera settings:

Sony a9 uses an all-new and larger NP-FZ100 7.2 V, 16.4 Wh, 2280 mAh battery ($79.95). After my first day of shooting, my battery still had 30% juice left in the tank after shooting OVER TWO THOUSAND continuous focus action shots with a mix of E-mount and adapted A-mount lenses. NP-FZ100 performed even better on second day of shooting with 60% battery remaining after shooting over 1400 action and portrait shots.

Built-in Ethernet FTP and PC Terminal

Sony a9 offers FTP File Transfer by both Ethernet and WiFi. It’s the first Sony camera with a built-in Ethernet Port for FTP image upload.

Built-in WiFi transfer is now possible of both Raw and Jpeg images as is compatibility with MiFi Wireless Hot spots.

Sony a9 is also the first E-mount camera that includes a PC Terminal – a welcome addition that I’ve lobbied for since the first generation Sony NEX…

Sony a9 also includes the usual Multi-Terminal, HDMI Mini, Headphone and Microphone ports

Same Width as Sony a7 Series Cameras

Sony a9 measures the same width as a7R II pictured below it. Despite adding dual cards slots, a larger battery, an Ethernet port and PC terminal, Sony a9 is the same width as Sony a7 Series mirrorless cameras. The grip is slightly deeper to accommodate the larger NP-FZ100 battery which I view as a GOOD THING since the a9’s slightly beefier grip makes the camera easier to grip when using long glass.

Sony a9 adds Joystick Controller

In addition to the multi-function Control Wheel, Sony a9 adds a Joystick Controller that allows you to quickly move the focus point or quickly navigate through images in playback mode.

New 3.69 Million Pixel Quad VGA OLED Finder

Sony a9 features a new 3.69 Million Pixel Quad VGA OLED Finder with 120 FPS refresh rate that refreshes faster than the human eye. It’s by far Sony’s best EVF to date and so that even when panning, there’s no visible viewfinder lag. Unlike DSLRs, Sony a9 has no flippin’ flapping mirror . You can view continuously with no viewfinder blackout and autofocus and auto-exposure work seamlessly without the need for “predictive” AF/AE since the image is never lost from view.

First Tilt-Screen LCD in a Flagship Camera

Tilt-Screen LCD is a hallmark of Sony cameras – that’s not found on Canikon Flagship DSLRs.

Sony a9 Tilt-Screen LCD will come as a very welcome feature to Canon 1DX & Nikon D5 users. Unlike Canikon flagship cameras, a9 does not require using a prism finder accessory to get a court level angle-of-view of basketball or tennis.

And I LOVE this…EVF/Monitor Switching is DISABLED when the a9 LCD Monitor is tilted upwards making it much easier to shoot from the hip with the LCD tilted upwards.

Sony VG-C3EM Vertical Grip ($349) holds 2 NP-FZ100 batteries and adds a vertical release and second joystick controller. Photographers who are comfortable with the size of Canon 1DX or Nikon D5 may want the additional size of a9 with the vertical grip. Of course, photographers who want a compact, lightweight body will be happy the vertical grip is an add-on not a built-in.

Focus Mode and Shooting Mode Dials

Relocated Video Record Button

The Video Record Button has been moved next to EVF which seems to be a more natural position for starting video recording with a press of your thumb. The new location also minimizes the chances of unintentional video recording when grabbing the camera. As with previous Sony mirrorless cameras, there’s a Menu Settings than allows you to limit video recording to Movie Mode Only. Video Recording can also be set the the shutter release button now if you prefer.

A-mount Lens Support up to 10 FPS using LA-EA3

Sony A-mount lenses such as the Sony 300mm f/2.8 G II pictured above will be supported across the full 693 Phase Detection AF Points at up to 10 FPS when used with Sony LA-EA3 Lens Adapter thanks to an upcoming firmware update.

PLEASE NOTE: It is possible to shoot at 20 FPS with third-party lenses – just not with AF or AE.

Mechanical Focal Plane Shutter for Flash Photography

In addition to it’s silent electronic shutter, Sony a9 also has a mechanical focal plane shutter option (with speeds up to 5 FPS) when needed for applications such as flash photography or when shooting under pulsing lights at high shutter speeds.

All-New Menu with New Custom Button Setting Options

Custom Buttons can be assigned to Live View Setting Effect, APS-Super35 Crop and switching between Silent Electronic and Mechanical Shutter Shooting Modes. Those who want those settings may want to program them like this:

Eye AF 30% Faster than Previous Sony Cameras

Sony a9 offers AF-C Eye AF that’s 30% faster than previous Sony cameras. Eye AF is a great setting for portraits using Wide or Zone Focus Area to focus on the iris of the nearest eye. (Click to Zoom Into Eyes).

By default, Eye AF is programmed to the center button but I prefer to switch this function the the Focus Hold button of the lens since this puts it in a more natural position to activate.

Menu > Camera 2 > Custom Key Settings > Focus Hold > Eye AF

For action, I use Face Detection instead of Eye AF since this gives the camera a larger tracking area.

AF Tracking Sensitivity Control for Stills

AF Tracking Sensitivity for still photography can be adjusted from 1-5 to control how slowly or quickly AF jumps off the subject when an object passes in front of it. This controls the duration that focus will remain when locked on the subject you’re tracking when it’s blocked from view. This of it as “sticky” focus control.

2.4 Times Over-Sampled 4K

Sony a9 features 2.4 times over-sampled 4K Video (24p/30p at 60M/100M) from the full width of the sensor with no line-skipping or pixel-binning.

High ISO Performance

I don’t like to make any definitive comments regarding High ISO performance until I’ve had a chance to run RAWs through Lightroom, Photoshop and Capture One (See Next Point). But based on early tests conversations with the Sony Engineers who worked on this camera, it appears that High ISO performance appears to be considerably better than a7II.

RAW Support

Expect Sony a9 Raw file support in Lightroom, Photoshop and Capture One around the time of the camera’s release.

The Bottom Line:

Sony a9 is aimed at the needs of photojournalists or sports photographers who can benefit from silent shooting at 20 frames-per-second with the fastest focusing camera on the planet. It should also appeal to wildlife photographers for it’s ability to track fast-moving subjects with no viewfinder blackout using an EVF that refreshes faster than the human eye.

On the other hand, if don’t need 20 FPS or best-in-class autofocus but want the resolution and low-light performance of a back-illuminated sensor – you might be happier with Sony a7RII. If you’re a video shooter or cinematographer who wants pixel-for-pixel 4K with huge dynamic range even in low light and features like S-Log3, then Sony a7SII might still be the best camera for your needs.

Two Floating AF groups for Fast AF to 3.2 feet

Fast focus can be a challenge with long lenses on mirrorless cameras, but Sony FE 100-400 F4.5-5.6 GM OSS utilizes two Floating AF groups – both a Direct Drive SSM and a double-linear motor – for fast AF across the entire focal range. It focuses all the way down to 3.2 ft/0.98m for 0.35x magnification at 400mm – perfect for shooting tight portraits.

Sony FE 100-400 F4.5-5.6 GM OSS is compatible with Sony FE 1.4x and 2.0x Teleconverters. Sony a9 has Phase-Detection AF sensitivity to F11 which allows use of PDAF with the FE 2.0x Teleconverter when shooting wide open at all focal lengths.

The Bottom Line:

Sony FE 100-400 F4.5-5.6 GM OSS begins to round out the long end of the Sony FE lens line-up. At roughly the size of a 70-200 2.8 and weighing just 49 oz, it offers more reach that’s perfect for shooting news, events and travel. While a larger 200-500mm might have better addressed the needs of wildlife photographers, when coupled with the Sony FE 1.4x teleconverter it offers that reach without the focus issues that plague the long end of 150-600mm adapted superzooms. With the release of their flagship a9 camera, Sony is firmly stepping into the Pro camera market as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics approaches. More long glass is sure to come…

Pros Put Sony a9 to the Test

It’s rare for me to get my hands on any Sony Camera or lens more than a week before announcement. Rarer still for Sony to put one in the hands of outsiders. Sony a9 was designed based on feature requests from leading news and sports photographers, wire services and photo agencies, so as soon as pre-production a9 cameras were available, Sony invited a select group of photojournalists and sports photographers to them to the test.

At separate events in Washington, D.C. and New York, I joined fellow Sony Artisans Ben Lowy and Patrick Murphy-Racey, and photojournalist/sports photographers David Burnett, of Contact Press Images; Rick Wilking, of Reuters; Doug Mills, of the NY Times; Canadian sports photojournalist Nick Didlick; Robert Deutsch, of USA Today; long-time Olympic veteran Porter Binks and UFC photographer Jeff Bottari to put pre-production Sony a9 cameras through the paces and with a number of lenses including the new Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens.

Sony engineers, product managers and my good friends from Sony Pro Support were at the event to channel photographer feedback to make final tweaks to a9 release firmware. In the nine years I’ve worked with Sony, I’ve come to expect this, but communication with camera engineers is truly unique to Sony.

The first six Sony a9 cameras in the world paired with FE 100-400mm and 70-200mm G Master lenses

Sony Artisan Ben Lowy puts Sony a9 and FE 70-200 F2.8 GM OSS to the test and searches high and low for the perfect shot…

Expanded Sony Pro Support

Sony is expanding their Sony Pro Support network with 24/7 phone support in the USA and new walk-in locations in New York and Los Angeles where Pro Support members can speak face-to-face to a tech who knows the cameras. Sony is also expanding their network with Sony Pro Support for Canada.

• 24/7 Phone Support in North America
• Advance Repair Loans with Next Day Arrival
• Try-Before-You-Buy Equipment Loans
• Walk-in Locations in New York & Los Angeles

Ok. I have an A77ll and shooting at the highest speed, 12fps, it is in auto mode only – I have no control of the shutter, aperture, nothing! So I have to shoot at 11fps which is the next slower speed but get full control. I noticed that the A9’s second speed down from 20fps is 10fps. Are we to assume that we will only get 20fps in auto-no control mode and full control at 10fps?

You can shoot 362 Jpeg Images before hitting buffer that can be in one burst or many. The faster the card you use – the faster the buffer clears after that. I recommend fast UHS-II cards like the ones I listed in this post.

It will be interesting to see how well it handles at night time sporting events where I shoot at ISO 25600 all the time, this is where the Nikon D5 really shines and also how well will the A9 AFC perform in less then ideal lighting conditions.
I still wish Sony would have made the body bigger with a built in grip even with the attached new battery grip the camera is very small, and I assume it will be hard to operate with gloves on due too tiny buttons.

I shoot both the A7RII and the Canon 1DX. Both are great cameras in different ways.

The A9 looks like a great PJ and sports camera, but sometimes I reach for the 1DX solely because I can operate it wearing gloves, and if it’s really cold the batteries still carry enough juice to get through a day’s shooting, even slung over my shoulder.

The A7/A9 series are really nice cameras, but sometimes they’re too “small” for the job.

Yeah, I get that Brian. I’m not being a hater, by any means…sounds like a terrific camera.

I just simply mean the buttons and functionality…their size is scaled to fit the body. That’s great when you want to strip it down…but a problem using it in other professional scenarios. Same problem with the Fujis…great cameras and available vertical grip attachments, tiny buttons and controls.

I think *maybe* close to the professional mark would be an A99 sized body with the A9 internals?

Just thinking out loud here. Looks like a great technology platform…I wish Canikon would compete for ALL of us. BTW…I really like your work

Wow! Very imoressed with the A9. I am in sort of a transition from Canon to Sony and currently use a Sony a6500 apart from my Canon bodies. I am for the most part happy with the new features of the A9 but I cannont see anything about one of my main concerns over the Sony mirrorless cameras and I wonder if you could clarify wether this new camera is more responsive than the other ones. i mean when you don’t use the camera for a few minutes, does it respond more quickly than previous models? To me this is a very important issue.

As an additional note to Brian’s point, it’s two of the new batteries, with over double the capacity of the old ones. Given the reports from testing of people getting well over 2000 images on a single battery and still having 30-40% left on it, I think it’s safe to assume that the grip could easily handle 4000-5000 images.

thanx for the good and quick report work again Brian!!! I work with fine art and the A7R2 how do you see the A9 fitting in for people that like to print up to 60×40 ” sometimes. The last 24 MP I used for printing this size was the Nikon D3X and it was quite ok in controled conditions I guess… how do you think this sensor will perform for this kind of photography? I have no doubt that for portraiture this will be a killer

Would you recommend the camera for portrait work? I own the a7ii but the AF system is really bad compared to its competitors. I thought about getting the a7rii but I don’t know if I really need 42mp. The file size of the a7ii is already too big (I shoot uncompressed raw). What do you think?

Hey brian. Awesome as always. I have quite the question. Im currently mid project on a battery grip with bigger batteries for the a7r2. Question is: is the size different than the a7r2? Im thinking i can easily Frankenstein that grip if its not wider

I’ll be the first to admit I was pretty underwhelmed reading about this camera. Aside from battery life and the new AF system I don’t see how this camera appeals to anyone besides sports and wildlife photogs. I figured the camera would offer a lot more, maybe my hopes were too high! I’ve been dying for this announcement to see if it would be worth my money to buy an A9 over a GH5, after this I doubt I will be purchasing a Sony camera anytime soon 🙁

A7R II has a Back-Illuminated CMOS sensor designed for great low light performance. A9 has the world’s first stacked CMOS sensor designed to support super fast readout and 20fps. I’ll wait til final firmware and Raw support before passing judgement but I’d expect it fall between a7II and a7RII in terms of high ISO performance.

My only comment as an “active consumer” level photographer is that naturally we would all love to be able to get all of this package for a consumer price, to open up our exploration of these new technologies way beyond what ourA6000’s are giving us….. the pace of change and expansion of capability and result quality are expanding so very fast that what we bought 12 months ago is quickly being outdated, even though still returning relatively remarkable image quality. I honestly believe that in the next 12-18 months SONY is going to capture a huge amount of the digital photography market and if they could deliver this quality at a much lower price, they would run away with it all.

The A7 series has been great for tech camera users. I wonder how much deeper the grip is compared to the A7R II I’ve got mounted on an Arca view camera. I’m asssuming an A7rII replacement will also inherit this larger grip. 🙁

Brian, outstanding review on the A9. The specs with this new A9 really look promising. Have already met with my local Sony dealer here in the Pensacola area today about pre-ordering. Will be trading in the A7RII. Looking forward to receiving it. Cheer!

That A9 price point (compared to the Canon and Nikon flagship bodies) was a real shocker to me. Perhaps some of it is saving accrued from eliminating the mechanical shutter and mirrors? I don’t know. But this is all coming together for Sony in my opinion. They have pushed out a serious Sport/Wildlife camera at a 25% discount. If they keep up this pace of lens development and technological achievement, they will be a major threat to Canon’s dominance in the near future. Because if you can convince the pros to convert to Sony, then the amateurs will follow with their dollars. That’s just my take on this 🙂

Given the speed of the sensor readout it seems like a such a miss to not include picture profiles (but they DO include the toy camera settings?!). I need a hybrid camera and while I like the 42MP of the A7RII, 24MP is totally sufficient for my needs and the speed seems so much better. Can’t really justify the expense if the video software is crippled.

Here is my prediction…
for now there won’t be A7III and A7RIII, not for at least another few years.
A7II and A7RII will continue like A6000 and A6300, there is nothing wrong A7II and A7RII, they will continue selling them for another 2-4 years.

I will wait for the A9R. I shoot A mount, A99 at the moment, and will upgrade to A99II soon, but am disappointed that the new tech from the sensor and viewfinder is not in the A99II, maybe in another four years.

The one many pundits on the internet are speculating about, to go along with the A9s that people also are speculating about, due to the lack os s-log on the A9.

I guess that because Sony have been so specific in their marketing of this camera (sports and action) people are assuming that they will follow a similar strategy to the A7 line, and have different cameras for different use cases. 9 for speed, 9R for high resolution and 9S for video. Not really a huge stretch since it obviously worked for them with the A7 line.

I got to try it out briefly at the Sony booth at NAB. The low light auto focus is much, much better than the A7 series or even the A6500. The lighting in the booth (really a room unto itself – it was huge) was dim. I tried focusing on a guy’s shoe while it was in a shadow blocking most of the light. It locked every time, quickly and accurately. An A7Rii would have hunted, then eventually given up under the same conditions.

This thing really is a new ball game, and really will give DSLRs competition in the low light auto focus area. I didn’t expect it to work nearly as well as it did. This was with the 35mm f/2.8 lens on.

[…] performance. The new stacked CMOS sensor with integral memory gives great speed, but I have read on Brian Smith’s website that high ISO is expected to fall somewhere between the A7 II and A7R II. This would mean that it […]

Peter

April 20, 2017

Hey Brian,

about the shutter, why can’t the electronic shutter be used for flash photography?

I was hoping the flash sync time would go beyond the standard of 1/250th sec.
Nikons D70/D40 had a electronical shutter as well, and we could sync beyond the limit of 1/250th.
Did you try to get the camera to sync at higher speeds? With the new PC terminal?

As always Brian a brilliant and initial outlay/review. Could you let us know when the noise creeps in and whats the low light AF is like. That’s if you have tested it in these conditions? In my opinion The A7 noise starts to creeps in at 1600 ISO and the A7rII around 3200/6400 ISO. Is it anywhere near the A7rII?

Hmm, I’m surprised.
If you’d said “a notch below the a7SII, I would have nodded and moved on.
Why the a9 should not match the a7RII puzzles me, as it has larger pixels and a stacked chip – arguably with a focus on speed – but still, larger pixels…

[…] bigger batter combined with a battery grip mean the A9 can handle up to 450 shots, but Brian Smith’s testing says it’s much higher—into the thousands. This would be a huge improvement over previous […]

[…] bigger batter combined with a battery grip mean the A9 can handle up to 450 shots, but Brian Smith’s testing says it’s much higher—into the thousands. This would be a huge improvement over previous […]

[…] bigger batter combined with a battery grip mean the A9 can handle up to 450 shots, but Brian Smith’s testing says it’s much higher—into the thousands. This would be a huge improvement over previous […]

Bob McAnally

April 20, 2017

Do you have any information on the Sony LA-EA3 Lens Adapter’s use with the older Minolta screw drive lenses like the 600mm f4 on the new A9? Any data would be helpful. Thanks.

Brian, I was listening to one of the Artisans making comments on the Sony adaptors to use with the A9 and he mentioned the LAEA3 and then said 5 was this a slip or slip up. Does Sony have a LAEA5 in the works?

[…] bigger batter combined with a battery grip mean the A9 can handle up to 450 shots, but Brian Smith’s testing says it’s much higher—into the thousands. This would be a huge improvement over previous […]

Rick W

April 20, 2017

I love your reviews, Brian. Question. I’ve been using an a7ii with a Godox AD360II flash & X1T trigger with HSS & TTL. Will the a9 also be able to do HSS & TTL with this set-up, and if so, up to what shutter speed? Same 1/8000?

I wonder why only one slot is UHS II? Does that mean that if the body is setup to back up, when shooting a sequence the second card won’t be able to keep up and will be slowing down camera’s speed?

I can’t wait to see samples at high ISO all I could find was max 3200. Brian do you think it will be at least as good in low light as the a7sII? It’s 24mp but it is also a newer sensor, so I’m hoping it’ll be at least as good.

I work on movie sets and the no -distortion electronic shutter sounds like a dream come true!

[…] been said a lot over the past couple of days—as insane 20fps demos and favorable reviews have popped up online—but Canon and Nikon have a serious competitor on their hands. Sony just […]

Mike Darter

April 21, 2017

Thanks for the report Brian. I’ve pre ordered and am planning on taking it to Alaska in June fir Grizzlies/ Wildlife and was wondering if you knew anything about how Nikon lenses will work on this with an adapter. I use them on A7RII and it seems as long as the lens is full frame it works very well. I’m hoping it will be the same with the A9. I’m taking Nikon 500 f4 and 300 f4.

[…] been said a lot over the past couple of days—as insane 20fps demos and favorable reviews have popped up online—but Canon and Nikon have a serious competitor on their hands. Sony just […]

Gary

April 22, 2017

Hey Brian, do you have any experience with the AF tracking on the A99ii? I am thoroughly disappointed with my A99ii tracking performances. Do you find the A9 to be better at that (with all that new technology)?

AF tracking is incredible on a9. I haven’t tested a99 II, but generally tracking problems are caused by using a Focus Area that’s too small. Never, ever use Flexible Small or Center. Stick to Wide, Zone or Flexible Expanded and when shooting humans enable Face Detection. Don’t attempt Eye AF for action – though it works great for portraits.

Nice job Brian, my question is with the A9 in still shooting APS-C crop mode what is the MP, I am guessing about 10 MP? I know it only has about 221 focus points in that mode with a cropped lens and 299 with a FF lens.

So far that question is nowhere to be found and hope you can get me that as I have 1 on pre order.

Thanks
Christopher
P.S I was the person that asked that question on the A7R in crop mode on the first l B&H live event.

You said the 100-400 GM lens has fast autofocus with teleconverters with the A9. A few questions arise. What about the lens with the A7R2? How fast will it be with the 2X teleconverter? What will the IQ be with the same combination? At 42mp the A7R2 can zoom by cropping but the A9, not so much.

Thanks for the response. It seems to me then that the A7R2 could equal the A9 in reach and still get autofocus. If you use the 1.4X teleconverter on the 42mp A7R2, you could crop the photo to get 2X and still get the same size image as the 24mp A9 using the 2X teleconverter. Is this correct? You might lose some field of view.

Brian, excellent review, very informative. Thank you. The added bonus is the great questions posed by the readers and your responses. I plan on taking the plunge based upon what I’ve read. Thanks again.

Excellent review! But I do have a question regarding the LA-EA3 adapter, you might be able to answer .

You write:
“Sony A-mount lenses such as the Sony 300mm f/2.8 G II pictured above will be supported across the full 693 Phase Detection AF Points at up to 10 FPS when used with Sony LA-EA3 Lens Adapter thanks to an upcoming firmware update.”

Do you know if that firmware update will be for the LA-EA3 adapter (if that is even possible) or the a9?

I use the LA-EA3 on my a6500 & the 3 FPS continuous AF is a bit sad, so an adapter fw update would be very nice 🙂

“A-mount lenses will be adaptable with the Sony LAEA3 adapter and will provide up to 10fps. Apparently current LAEA3 adapters will have to be sent to Sony for firmware update. FF to about 9:45 in the video below:

Hi Brian, I’ve tried the silent shutter in the A7sII and the A7rII and in low light situations it’s been hit or miss with banding in the captures. Does the A9 exhibit the same problem? I understand that it uses the video output for still captures just like the A7. I shoot symphony orchestras and theater and really love my D5’s but hate having to use blimps to silence the cameras. I’ve experienced the banding in some theaters that have switched to LED lighting. Thanks!

Great review brian! Question about use of TC’s: Canon can AF with a TC at f/8 but only on the center AF sensor. Do you know how many sensors are active on the a9 with a 1.4 and 2.0 TC at f/8 and f/11 respectively? Is it just the center, or more? Thanks!

[…] Brian Smith reports that Sony expanded their Sony Pro Support network with a new 24/7 phone support in the USA! There are also new walk-in locations in New York and Los Angeles where Pro Support members can speak face-to-face to a tech who knows the cameras. Sony is also also expanding their network with Sony Pro Support for Canada. […]

Yes, Sony’s Aspect Ratio works the same way. Jpegs have a hard crop – but RAWs are full res. Depending on post-processing software, they may show up cropped but the crop can still be adjusted in post from the full image.

[…] Brian Smith reports that Sony expanded their Sony Pro Support network with a new 24/7 phone support in the USA! There are also new walk-in locations in New York and Los Angeles where Pro Support members can speak face-to-face to a tech who knows the cameras. Sony is also also expanding their network with Sony Pro Support for Canada. […]

Brian please….if anyone can find one you can.
I’d love an excuse to sell my 1DXii. Often I use it with either the EOS 100-400ii or the 400DOii. If the a9 + FE 100-400 + 1.4TC is as sharp as the current gold standard Canon 100-400ii with TC I can leave Canon.
And I need too! It’s an age/weight thing 🙁
So have you seen mtf charts/have a link for the FE 100-400 with TC ???

Thank you sir!
I’m lucky to have an A7Rii and think the a9 will make a fantastic traveling companion especially when the venue will have landscaping and BIF’ing.
Knowing I’m to leave the Canon world, my ultimate quandary will be what to do with my a99ii which is another incredible piece of engineering.
Take care!
p.s. When I order the a9 I’ll use one of your links 🙂

I enjoy reading your comments on line and have learned a lot from your book: Sony a7 Series: From Snapshots to Great Shots. Do you anticipate writing a new book for the Sony a9 or when would such a book be available? Thank you!

In the report you get the impression that both GMaster lenses (2.8/70-200 and 100-400) are internal focusing AND internal zooming. Unfortunately this is not the case. Both are EXTENDING zooms which makes them much less professional than other lenses. Too bad you do not feel the necessity to show the full picture, so that readers really can see all the characteristics of the lenses under all circumstances.
The cheaper 4/70-200 has internal zoom and so is much more compact. It makes you wonder, why Sony was not able to offer that feature for the 2.8 Master lens. After all it is not a cheapskate.

I own the Sony a9 ( and the Nikon D5 and D810(.
Two things that bothers me a lot ( and I am sure that others too) are the dust collection of the sensor when changing lenses and unwillingly changing exposure compensation when rotating the rear dial )for selecting exposure speed as an example).

I would like to provide Sony with the following suggestions:
1. Preventing the dust collection by the sensor
Define a “lens change” mode in Setup.
When the user selects that mode, the mechanical shutter closes and protects the sensor from collecting dust.
Once the user exists that mode ift returns to normal.

2. Preventing unwillingly change of exposure compensation.
Define a setup mode that disables the exposure compensation by the dedicated dial. (I am using the Control wheel push down to set the exposure compensation.)

I’d agree on the first point (though possibly using an auxillary curtain like Mamiya 6/7 rather than exposing the actual shutter).

But I strongly disagree on the second. I love that it’s easy to adjust Exposure Compensation when the camera is to your eye and hate all the locks Sony has added to the camera that make adjustments require two hands.

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Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Smith creates iconic portraits of the famous and infamous for magazines, books and advertising. He has appeared on The X Factor, Fine Living Network and Israel Channel One and exhibited at the Library of Congress and the Aperture Gallery.